1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device useful for installing strings of decorative lights, and more particularly, to molded plastic connector spacers useful for releasably connecting decorative light strings having a plurality of decorative bulb and socket assemblies into an array forming a display pattern having a desired size and shape.
2. Description of Related Art
Many different devices have previously been disclosed for use in hanging, routing, joining, controlling and organizing decorative light strings. Such devices are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,096,945; 5,215,409; 5,215,519; and 5,558,585.
Nets have recently become particularly popular as a means for installing decorative lighting for interior or exterior holiday lighting displays. U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,361, discloses a rectangular array of interconnected strands to which conventional decorative light strings are attached. The strands can be solid, tubular, woven or braided and are typically made of a polymeric or textile material. Combinations of different materials can also be used depending, for example, on whether a particular strand is directly attached to a decorative light string or is simply used to provide support and spacing between adjacent light support strands.
One benefit of such light nets is that they maintain more regular spacing between the lights when light strings are installed on trees, shrubbery, or other support surfaces. Although decorative light strings are usually manufactured with the bulb and socket assemblies spaced equal distances apart, it can be difficult to maintain substantially the same spacing between adjacent rows of lights whenever a long string is wrapped around an object or looped back and forth over a surface, or when multiple decorative light strings are laid out in substantially parallel relation. Another benefit achieved through the use of light nets is reduced tangling of decorative light strings during installation or removal for storage. Once the light strings are attached to the nets, the nets can be deployed and subsequently recovered for storage and reuse with minimal time and effort required.
Disadvantages have also been encountered in using the conventional, commercially available light nets. Because of their inherent geometry, conventional light nets are primarily useful for displaying lights in a substantially rectangular array, no matter whether the net is hung against a wall, draped over shrubbery, or wrapped around a tree trunk or other object. Although the nets can be folded or shaped as they are deployed, such shaping reduces the light spacing in some areas, making the resulting lighting effect more irregular than would otherwise be desirable. Also, because the conventional light nets are usually manufactured in certain predetermined rectangular sizes corresponding to the number of lights (e.g., 50 or 100) in an ordinary decorative light string, the size of the rectangular array may be either larger or smaller than would otherwise be preferred.